FCC Unveils Updated Net Neutrality Plan, Sets Vote for Dec. 21

The Federal Communications Commission today set a Dec. 21 vote on its new net neutrality proposal, which FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski outlined this morning, PCMag.com reported.

The new plan mirrors the one proposed more than a year ago, without reclassifying broadband as a telecom service, the story says.

In a prepared statement, Genachowski said: "After months of hard work at the FCC, in other parts of government, in the private sector, and in the public interest community, and after receiving more than 100,000 comments from citizens across America, we have reached an important milestone in our effort to protect Internet freedom and openness.”

According to the PCMag story, “The plan outlined by Genachowski includes five basic points: meaningful transparency; a ban on blocking lawful apps and services; a ban on unreasonable network management; an allowance for a certain amount of ISP network management; and rules governing wireless that call for transparency and a basic no-blocking rule.”

One change for Internet service providers, according to the story, would be a requirement that they provide information to consumers about how their networks are managed, whether the service slows down at times, what usage caps are in place and so forth. This requirement, said Genachowski, would give consumers and innovators “the information they need to make smart choices about subscribing to or using a broadband network, or how to develop the next killer app."